SWARTHMORE — A 7-foot-long boa constrictor is still on the lam after escaping his Yale Avenue home more than a week ago. The snake, cleverly named Snakey, absconded from the backyard of its owner’s home in the 400 block of Yale Avenue eight days ago.

“As of now, we have received no reports of anyone seeing the snake,” Swarthmore Police Chief Brian Craig said Tuesday.

Police haven’t received any reports of missing cats either, he added.

Craig said the borough’s animal control officer is aware of the situation and is ready to respond should the missing serpent be located.

“If anyone finds the snake, they should call 911 immediately,” Craig said. “An officer will respond and try to contain the snake until the animal control officer can get there. If the snake is behaving in an aggressive or threatening way, then the officer will do whatever he needs to do to make sure nobody is in danger.”

Craig said there are no police resources being dedicated to actively search for the snake.

“With a department of only eight officers, it doesn’t really make sense to have a detail out there looking for a snake,” Craig said. “It would be a very intensive to search for the snake. We’d have to go onto a lot of private property, looking in people’s bushes. I don’t think the residents would be too happy about that.”

Residents don’t seem to be too concerned about the runaway reptile, though. At Swarthmore Hardware on Chester Road, owner Charlie Devaney said it had been a topic of discussion for a day or two, but it had died down.

“They don’t seem to care,” said Devaney, who has owned the store for more than 40 years. “If it had been a 20-footer, maybe then people would be more concerned.”

Devaney doesn’t carry snake repellent in his store.

Hudson Kalble was in the store Tuesday afternoon. He works as a gardener at Swarthmore College’s Scott Arboretum and said he had heard about the slithering fugitive, but hadn’t thought about it too much, despite the fact Snakey has escaped before and last time he was found on the college’s campus.

“I haven’t even thought of it, honestly,” Kalble said.

He added that if he were to find the snake, his first instinct would be to call 911. Additionally, he said that he saw some people walking down neighborhood streets with small shovels to check bushes and brush for signs of the snake. The reptile’s unknown whereabouts don’t seem to have frightened dog walkers away from Little Crum Creek Park, just a few blocks from the scene of the daring escape. At least a half-dozen people were seen gallivanting with their canine companions Tuesday afternoon, though each was reluctant to speak with a reporter emerging from the vegetation along the secluded creek.

At Clippers and Cuts barber shop on Dartmouth Avenue, Pete Camakis said people have been bringing up the missing snake as a frequent topic of conversation at Renato’s Pizza, where he works.

The Springfield resident was getting a haircut Tuesday when he said he was surprised to hear about the fact that someone kept the snake as a pet, and doubly surprised it had escaped and hasn’t been found. He added that things like this don’t happen in Springfield.

Snakey’s owner, veterinarian David Spiegel, has kept the serpent as a pet for almost 20 years. The pet escaped while sunning itself in Spiegel’s backyard, where the doctor and animal behavior consultant said he frequently leaves the snake unattended.

He said the snake poses no threat to any humans or pets, and would only be interested in eating mice and very small rodents.